[classicman]

from the Senate

President-elect Barack Obama intends to step down from his seat in the United States Senate on Sunday, leaving his seat just as lawmakers return to Washington for a lame-duck Congressional session.

Obama's decision allows him to avoid participating in next week's session on Capitol Hill. The seat will remain empty until Governor Rod Blagojevich appoints a successor to fill out the remaining two years of the term, which he said he would do by year's end.

"It has been one of the highest honors and privileges of my life to have served the people of Illinois in the United States Senate," Obama said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

While Obama will play a behind-the-scenes roll in the economic stimulus legislation debated in Congress during the lame-duck session, advisers said he wanted to avoid the awkward position of returning to the Senate to cast a ballot should his vote be needed. By stepping down from his post now, the pressure intensifies on Blagojevich to name a replacement.

Obama is leaving his seat as the junior senator from Illinois two months shy of the four-year anniversary of the date he was sworn in. At the time, some of his aides hinted that he would serve only one term, but replacing Blagojevich was his leading option, not running for president.
"In a state that represents the crossroads of a nation, I have met so many men and women who've taken different journeys, but hold common hopes for their children's future," Obama said in his statement. "It is these Illinois families and their stories that will stay with me as I leave the United States Senate and begin the hard task of fulfilling the simple hopes and common dreams of all Americans as our nation's next president."

Vice President-elect Joseph Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware, has not said when he intends to step down from his seat.

Gotta admit - this guy doesn't waste any time - I like that. Joe Biden is probably still in a state of disbelief.